An Analysis of the Housing Advertisements: İstanbul Case

Ayşenur Ethemoğlu-Eda Güldağı

Condition of Building Trade In Turkey

In contemporary Turkey, especially over the last few years,

there is rapid growth of building construction sector. For

example, the owner of Enka İnşaat, Şarık Tara became the

second richest person in Turkey in 2014. According to the list

that Forbes declared, in the "The Richest 100 Turks", there

are 83 people who -also- carry on building trade.1 In the light

of these informations we can conclude that there is a growing

elite group in this sector.

There are many reasons about why this sector became the

most 'popular' aspect of production and consuming. Maybe the

most important one is urban renewal project, especially in the

İstanbul case; nowadays the whole city turned into a

construction site so to say. Urban renewal is a moot concept

not only for Turkey but also for other countries. People who

criticize urban renewal call this process 'gentrification'.

Also we will use this concept when we need to refer urban

renewal. In the İstanbul case the risk of earthquake is

emphasized enormously by government and media. Procurators of

government who work on this project declare to the public that

this project is about protecting our life, and rescue İstanbul

from its ucube* appearance.

On the oppoosite side, people claim that this is not a

renewal, this is gentrification. This criticism is very

judicious if we consider that gentrification is applied to

places that have high land values such as Sulukule and now

applying to Fikirtepe; and also there is an unjust treatment

to the residents in this process. This can lead us to think

that there is nothing about risk of earthquake in this

gentrification process.

Not only urban renewal project provides convenience to the

construction companies, but also there are legislative

regulations on this process. For instance if enterprises work

with

*By referring to Erdoğan's speech on Sulukule in March

2008. He said; "We will save Sulukule from its freak (ucube)

condition."

TOKİ, the problem of adding stories is no longer a problem.

Moreover, TOKİ decreases tax incidence on them. Because of

these and other many aspects, we cannot consider the change in

construction sector independent from government; it greases

the skids for this sector by providing legal regulations.

Construction sector is shown as the most important

locomotive for the economy. In the Gayrimenkul ve Konut Sektörüne

Bakış report that is published by Emlak Konut, there is a

mention of how building construction sector is important for

Turkey's economy. It writes that this sector is capital

leverage of Turkey's economy (2014: 52).

Creation of "New Life" Through Advertisement

Changes/transformations in cities affect most of the parts

of our life. At that point, we should look how "new life, new

city" slogan's content is formed and how new building in the

cities are placed in media. It is important to stress on this

issue because of the fact that city is not a mirror effect. As

well as we transform the cities, they also transform us. The

types of building we live in or the characteristics of public

spaces or many other things about cities shape our

possibilities and affect our life styles. Also today, house

itself is seen as a way of showing individual's identity and

status in social life. (Akyol, 2008: 74).

When we consider the aspects that are mentioned until now,

we can easily say, there will be a reflection of construction

sector in media; especially in advertising. Because every

sector in production introduce themselves through advertising.

But it shouldn't be forgotten that also the government has a

role about using media such as public service announcements on

urban renewal and information about probable earthquakes.

To understand the content of "new life style",

advertisements are very beneficial. We know that many people

are willing to buy houses which promise a new life style. They

feel that they need that kind of houses to fulfill their

desires. Baudrillard points out that custom of consuming is

formed through creation of needs in virtual environment (2008:

90). One of the best example of virtual environment is

advertisements. Hence, we can conclude, one of the most

important aspect that shapes people's needs is commercials.

Citizens are able to acquainted with new products through

advertising and also they learn "ideal" usage of those

products. As C. W. Mills ephasizes;

"...(1) the media tell the man in the mass who he is - they give him

identitiy; (2) they tell him what he wants to be - they give him

aspirations; (3) they tell him how to get that way - they give him the

technique..." (1956: 314).

Mills talk about media in general in his book The Power Elite.

But when we look to this quotation, we can easily apply this

to the advertisements. We 'learn' through advertisements in

what way we should act while we are using a product. This is

related to the how we construct an identity. Because

advertisements frame an "ideal person" that uses a product and

they promise a certain kind of life. In that sense

advertisements are in a very important place for the creation

of lifestyles through housing. Akyol Altun emphasizes how

"ideal housing" is formed as one of the main aspect of

consumer culture;

"The ideal life styles are presented in a mythologized way through

media and advertisement. The ideal house is identified with

metaphorical statements such as 'we will bring your peace back, fix

your wrong life, help you to find your lost identity, help you to start

your life with a clean state'... Concordantly the system makes housing

as a commodity to consume." (2008: 75-76).

In the consideration of creation of styles through building

construction advertisements, we can find so many aspects that

we can examine. For understand this issue better, we will

explain how the 'ideal life style' is formed by looking to

some advertisement. We especially chose project that are made

by "assurance of Emlak Konut". Thereby we will not drift apart

the connection between private sector and the government. As a

matter of fact it is not hard to find these kinds of projects

because most of the super luxurious housing estates are

constructing with the help of government.

First advertisement will be a project from Fikirtepe. It is

important to look these kind of advertisements because

Fikirtepe is destroyed with the discourse of risk of

earthquake. In this situation we normally expect there will be

no change in the demography of the area. But in reality it

does not happen in that way. At that point advertisements are

in a very important place because they help us to understand

what are the new promises for this area and to whom they

address.

In the following section we will state content of

commercials and afterwards we will analyze them.

- Renovia İstanbul2

"Vartaş Company offers its clients a profitable investment, a happy life and a

space for spend quality life since its foundation". 'A profitable investment'

is emphasized three times in this commercial. Also they

declare that their essential principle is to procure to their

clients a profitable investment. This shows that an area that

is demolished with pretext of earthquake actually does not

serve this purpose.

When the voice talks about Renovia İstanbul, he says that

"Whatever that first things come to mind when you think İstanbul, Renovia İstanbul

has them in its soul. When you look it from outside it is almost a painting.". We see

that residence form is shown as something aesthetic. In a

sense old forms of are architecture are submitted as outmoded.

Also Renovia İstanbul is described as a secret world. "Here there

is a life that everyone imagine, but only you have. Luxury is now casual for you. If

you take place Renovia now, you will conquer the future. Renovia İstanbul: The new

European of Kadıköy." In this statement we see that there is a

promise to be like an 'European'. So they try to sell

something 'different' from other residences by promising to be

like an European.

We can say that, Renovia İstanbul serves to upper class

lifestyles. For example, in commercial it is said that

worldwide known brands will be in the shopping mall in Renovia

İstanbul. There will be tennis courts and many other things.

The advertisement frame a upper class life. Also when we look

to prices (from 5500 to 8000 liras for per square meter3), we

do not even need to look commercials.

- Brandium4

In this commercial Ayşe Arman tells us her dream house and

she describes Brandium: where you can go all the places

easily, go to shopping mall with only one elevator, go to a

cafe and work there, the school that is safe and a five-star

hotel. After she describes it, the voice says; "There is a place can

make your dream come true."

- İstanbul Marina5

In another commercial, İstanbul Marina Project promises

hotel, shopping mall, office, residence, private school,

hospital, marina, luxury restaurants, personal watercraft and

a helicopter pad. İstanbul marina is represented as the best

'mixed life' project in the commercial.

- Resim İstanbul Orman6

An another project Resim İstanbul has a very interesting

commercial. A family (a man, a women and their little son)

goes to office of Resim İstanbul. They are in tribal clothes.

There is a monkey on man's shoulder and women holds a tiger.

At the end, she convinces his partner and she says: "Sweetheart,

this is the natural one."

In all of these commercials, we see a promise of new

life. They 'assure' that if someone buys those houses, their

life will be happy, peaceful and so on. In that sense, there

is a connection between abstract concepts and a material

product. As Judith Williamson points out;

"For even 'obvious' function of advertising -the definition above, 'to sell

to us'- involves a meaning process. Advertisements must take into

account not only the inherent qualities and attributes of the products

they are trying to sell, but also the way in which they can make those

properties mean something to us." (1978: 12).

This argument seems accurate for housing advertisements.

Advertisers create a meaning and consumers buy that product in

order to live in a promised world. But what are the promises

in those commercials and what kind of lifestyle they assure?

Being a closed space is one of the most important

characteristic of these places. "Luxurious sites that closed to public are

manifestation of image, privilege and status." (Marmarasan, 2014: 230).

Gated community lifestyle provides "everything" (even a

hospital) under one's nose, and people can reach everything -

that they can consume- swiftly. So the closed area that people

live becomes a place for consuming. This kind of lifestyle

also assures running from "city poors" and 'crowd, noise,

impurity, and violence'. Thus they do not need to share same

space with "public". They live with people who have same

social status, in gated communities. (Marmarasan, 2014: 229).

For example "living like a European in Kadıköy" symbolize

identical people who live in a same place.

In addition to all the things I have mentioned until now,

there is one more thing to say. When we look to housing

commercials, in all of them there are statements about

investment. For example in Kentplus Kadıköy commercial, only

thing that is mentioned is investment not qualities of the

houses. It says that; "In the hearth of Anatolian side, the best and most

guaranteed one; Kentplus Kadıköy: The accurate address for earnings."7. It

shows us that house itself is seen as a commodity that should

be used in profit-oriented way.

Lastly I want to state the contrasts in commercials.

Because commercials describe two types of life: who own the

house that is mentioned and who cannot. By this way, they

actually separate people in two. Alpman and Göker talk about

those contrasts and state them: Secure - dangerous, happiness

- misery, luxury - common, natural - synthetic, elite -

ordinary and peace - noice (2010: 80,85). By doing it,

commercials characterize places, that are not luxury

residents, as awful areas. Only way to be happy, peaceful,

natural, secure is showed as living in those residents.

Conclusion

Our aim was to show the core meaning of the building

trade's advertisements; they affect our view of "living

space". Furthermore, these advertisements impose us the way of

living "properly" by framing an ideal housing. On the other

hand, the demand is increasing for these houses day by day;

and we can say that the advertisements are making a major

contribution for their sales. In this process, city itself is

changing constantly with the new order of the construction

companies and people are attuned to this new "trend". As a

conclusion, we claim that the key aspect of the extensiveness

of this "trend" is the advertisements.

Renovia İstanbul (Fikirtepe)

Brandium (Ataşehir)

İstanbul Marina (Kartal)

Resim İstanbul Orman (Sancaktepe)

REFERENCES

Akyol Altun, Didem (October 2008). Yeni Yaşam Tarzları:Kapalı Konut Yerleşkeleri. DEÜ Mühendislik Fakültesi Fen ve MühendislikDergisi. Vol. 10(3). 73-83.

Alpman, Polat and Göker, Göksel (2010). SınıfsalFarklılıklar Bağlamında Aseptik Mekanların Temsili: KonutReklamları Örneği. Akdeniz İletişim Dergisi. Vol. 13: 68-92.

Baudrillard, Jean (2008). Tüketim Toplumu: Söylenceleri veYapıları. Ayrıntı Yayınları: İstanbul.

Emlak Konut GYO A.Ş. (2014). Gayrimenkul ve Konut SektörüneBakış.

Marmarasan, Deniz (Fall, 2014). Bir Mekansal AyrışmaModeli Olarak Modern Gettolaşma: Televizyon Reklamları ÜzerineBir İnceleme. Global Media Journal: TR Edition. Vol. 5(9): 219-242.

Williamson, Judith (1978). Decoding Advertisements: Ideology andMeaning in Advertisements. Marion Moyars: London.

1 http://www.sabah.com.tr/fotohaber/ekonomi/en-zengin-turkler

2 Renovia İstanbul commercial:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBFxr7qoUU8

3http://emlakkulisi.com/renovia-istanbulun-metrekare-fiyatlari-5-bin-500-liradan-basliyor/265722

4 Brandium commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD2MP27yAJI

5 İstanbul Marina commercial:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acf6xnJ9n34

6 Resim İstanbul Orman commercial:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj9KB-JnBRM

7 Kentplus Kadıköy commercial:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIdrAA-D2YA